GRAHAM OVENDEN THE PAEDOPHILE ARTIST IN JAIL

IT TOOK A LONG ENOUGH BATTLE TO GET THIS FILTHY CREEP BEHIND BARS. THE SCALES OF JUSTICE ARE STILL TIPPED DANGEROUSLY LOW FOR VICTIMS OF CHILD ABUSE - AS I'VE SAID BEFORE, THE VICTIMS ARE MUCH MORE LIKELY TO FIND THEMSELVES BEHIND BARS THAN THE OFFENDERS.

I HOPE THERE IS MORE SOAP THAN DRUGS IN THE JAIL WHERE THEY PUT HIM!

THERE'S OTHERS WHO SHOULD BE IN THERE WITH HIM, HIS AIDING AND ABETTING AND ENABLING FRIENDS AND MASTERS. I WON'T NAME NAMES, FOR A START OFF I DON'T NEED TO, BUT IF I DID THEY WOULD PROBABLY START UP ANOTHER VENDETTA AGAINST ME AND GET DAVID CAMERON TO DO ANOTHER STUNT WITH PHILIP SCHOFIELD AND THREATEN ME WITH LIBEL AND ISOLATE ME EVEN MORE ECT ECT ECT. WE ALL KNOW HOW IT WORKS NOW AND IT STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2451120/Artist-Graham-Ovenden-jailed-years-Court-Appeal-original-sentence-unduly-lenient.html

'Not a shred of remorse': Disgraced artist Graham Ovenden is jailed for two years after original sentence for sex offences deemed 'unduly lenient'

Committee quashed suspended sentence in the case of Graham Ovenden
Originally received 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years
Ovenden convicted of six charges of indecency with a child and one allegation of indecent assault relating to three girls
Court ruled that the sentence should not have been suspended and the correct total to be imposed today was a term of 27 months
Judges also heard a bid by Ovenden, who had denied the charges against him, to challenge his conviction

But court rejected the application for permission to appeal, ruling that the verdicts were 'safe'


By Anna Edwards

PUBLISHED:16:41, 9 October 2013| UPDATED:17:50, 9 October 2013








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Artist Graham Ovenden, who avoided prison after being found guilty of sex offences against children, was jailed for two years and three months by Court of Appeal judges today when they ruled that his non-custodial sentence was 'unduly lenient'.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas, sitting with two other judges in London, quashed the suspended sentence imposed in June in the case of Graham Ovenden, 70, of Barley Splatt near Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.

Ovenden, who was accused of abusing children who posed for his paintings in the 70s and 80s, originally received 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years at Plymouth Crown Court, but the sentence was referred to appeal judges by Attorney General Dominic Grieve.

Ovenden, who was present in court for the hearing, was convicted of six charges of indecency with a child and one allegation of indecent assault relating to three girls

As well as the sentence review, the judges also heard a bid by Ovenden, who had denied the charges against him, to challenge his conviction.

But the court rejected the application for permission to appeal, ruling that the verdicts were 'safe'.

Ovenden, who was present in court for the hearing, was convicted of six charges of indecency with a child and one allegation of indecent assault relating to three girls.

Lord Thomas, who said Ovenden had not shown a 'shred of remorse' for his victims, ruled that the sentence should not have been suspended and the correct total to be imposed today was a term of 27 months.

Ovenden claimed that his interest in young girls was artistic and not sexual - but that claim was rejected by the three judges.

Lord Thomas said the girls had 'no understanding of the true purpose' behind what Ovenden was doing.
Lord Thomas said Ovenden had shown 'no contrition' BY maintaining that he had done nothing wrong
'There was no doubt that his purpose was sexual. There is no doubt that he had a sexual interest in children.'

When considering the appropriate sentence the court had to have regard to the fact that the only mitigation Ovenden had was his former good character and his age.

Lord Thomas added that against that 'there are a very large number of aggravating factors'.

Those factors included the 'comparison in age between the victims and his own age at the time the offences were committed' and the number of victims.

But the 'most serious' was the 'very serious abuse of the position of trust' that he had in relation to the girls.

His reputation as a landscape artist enabled those who were closest to the children to trust him, said Lord Thomas.

There was also the factor of the 'very serious impact on the victims, magnified by the way in which he had grossly manipulated them and degraded them by the photographs he had taken'.

Lord Thomas said the court had seen victim impact statements from the three victims in which they described how giving evidence at Ovenden's trial was the worst experience of their lives.

When suspending the prison term, the sentencing judge said he took into account Ovenden's age, the length of time since the offences, and his 'steep fall from grace and irretrievably tarnished reputation'.


It was argued on behalf of the Attorney General that 'reputational impact' on him was not a reason for suspending the sentence and it was 'wrong in principle' to take that into account.


Exceptional circumstances were required for a sentence to be suspended.


Lord Thomas said Ovenden had shown 'no contrition', maintaining that he had done nothing wrong, and that as an artist he seeks to 'capture the innocence of children in a state of grace'.


He claimed he was the victim of a 'global witch-hunt against artists'.



Ovenden claimed that his interest in young girls was artistic and not sexual

Lord Thomas said: 'He seeks to blame others and asserts a conspiracy against him. It is self-evident he has no understanding of the very serious harm he has done to the victims by his serious criminal misconduct.


'He still asserts that art is being put on trial. That is nonsensical bearing in mind the facts.'


Speaking after the hearing, the Attorney General said: 'Graham Ovenden committed terrible sexual offences against vulnerable young girls who were in his charge and ought to have felt safe. He manipulated them and abused his position of trust.

'The Court of Appeal agrees that the 12-month suspended sentence handed to him was unduly lenient, and I am satisfied they have replaced it with 27 months custody.

'It is right that sexual crimes, whether committed many years ago or more recently, should be punished appropriately.

'Today the court affirmed this and sent a clear message that people who have behaved in this way in the past will face the consequences through the courts.'

Under the early tutelage of the 'godfather of Pop Art' Sir Peter Blake, Ovenden embarked on a career which catalogued life on the streets of London, landscapes of the countryside, and portraiture of children.

He had been tutored by Lord David Cecil and Sir John Betjeman, with his work displayed across the world including exhibitions at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, The Tate and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

In 1975 he founded the Brotherhood of Ruralists movement - artists who had left the city to live in the countryside.